July 2011

07/16/2011

You know why I'm smarter than Napoleon? I went to Russia in June and left in July. I am also taller than him and focus more on good food rather than total world domination but to each his own. Of course if Napoleon had studied up on Russia's cuisine while mapping out his empire he might have thought twice about sending his army in to take over the tundra continent.

I must admit, like Mr. Bonapart I was a bit naive in my Russian invasion (food that is). I have written in the past about my fascination of this huge, complex country. Catherine the Great is my historical hero (and while we are on the subject of Catherines, the current duchess version of the name is my style hero!). In high school my band shirt had "Erin the Great" written on the back of it. (In a school of 100 kids, almost 15 years ago this wasn't as lame as it sounds now....) My incredible sympathy for Tvye and his daughters in their Jewish village creates an internal war with my incredible empathy for the fall of the Romanov's. But all of this Russian intrigue blinded me a bit from the reality of their food. Faberge eggs may be expensive and intricate but to be frank their food isn't.

Do you have a variety of root vegetables, ground meat, some dill and maybe a dollop of sour cream? Then you have a Russian feast. This doesn't mean that it's not good, because it is! This is hearty, homey and quite tasty but it's not what Napoleon and I were used to after spending so much time in Italy. Italy has sun, water, soil; the basic elements needed to grow juicy tomatoes, plump grapes and ripe olives. The average temperature in Russia is 22 degrees (thank you Google), the vegetables have no place to go but the ground. In addition to the poor climate was a poor class system. With slavery a no-no in Europe, serfs became a major percentage of the Russian population. When serfdom was out of style a new class of peasants was the new majority. Throw in a couple world wars and some Communism and I think that the fact the Russians are still kicking it is pretty freaking incredible!

So, less semi-factual history and onto the food. For my Russian meals I made Golubsti which are cabbage rolls filled with beef, rice, onion. The recipe I used (from the only actual Russian I know!) was better than the typical cabbage roll recipe becuase you first fried the rolls before you simmered them and the sauce you poured over was a thin reux of oil, tomato sauce and sour cream which was surprisingly very good. This was a keeper dish and though the separate ingredients were simple, the meal was a bit of a chore to make, those Russian women have skills and must keep their hands warm rolling cabbage! The next two meals I made were Goulash and Borsch. Both good, both filling, both could've saved Napoleon's forces from a frozen starvation. The last meal I made was Belyashi which are fried meat pies. Since I didn't have an awesome Russian mom's recipe to go off of for this I did some research. Most of the Belyashi recipes call for you to make a basic bread dough and fill it with meat and onion. I found one that was different from the masses and went for it. My Belyashi recipe was a dough made of flour, eggs, russian cheese and buttermilk (I substituted the far from domestic cheese and buttermilk for cottage cheese). This is a very different dough, no yeast, no rising and cheese thrown in. Whatever the Russian word for skeptic is, I was one. After way more flour than the recipe called for and a good Kitchen Aid workout (kisses!) I had THE perfect dough. There was no proof that there was cheese in it as it was mixed completely in, but there was an added richness that you wouldn't have gotten from your everyday bread dough. You take some of the bread, fill it with ground beef and onion and make a pocket with the top still open like a doughy, meaty purse of goodness. You fry the open side down which seals in the juices, sealing in the fact that they will be delish! These were bad in a very good way and the dough was key part which I had a lot leftover. In an attempt to pretend that I don't waste food (charles henry!) I decided to find a way to use the left over dough. The next morning I rolled little circles of it and filled it with cream cheese that I sweetened with fresh lemon juice and powdered sugar. Fried up for a bit and sprinkled with powdered sugar and my first donut attempt was a success! I will call them my Sputnik donuts....

In the end, I am glad that I went to Russia but I realize that my desire to visit the country is not to sit in a sidewalk cafe and drink the best espresso ever or feast on fresh pasta and sip on fine wine, that is Italy. I want to go to Italy for the food and drink, I want to go to Russia because it's Russia and like Napoleon I will one day get there! Until then I have my cabbage rolls and Sputnik donuts. Next I am going to do what Napolean should've done, I'm going to kick it in France!